The Story of Menma
by Anjelle
Summary: Naruto was twelve when he left his village, the knowledge of his burden weighing heavy on his shoulders. Naruto was twelve and Iruka was dead and nothing was okay. Naruto was a missing-nin. Naruto was a fugitive. Menma is twenty-eight when Konoha is brought to its foundations, twenty-eight when he makes his decision. In sixteen years, so much has changed.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to the Outrunning Karma prequel, friends. Enjoy the show and Happy New Year!**

* * *

The world blurred into a haze of adrenaline and sweat as his eyes searched the scroll at his feet. The pounding of his heart blocked out conscious thought, his chest heaving with every laboured breath. The world did not matter. He took no notice of the wound in his side, burning away into seamless skin as though there was never a wound to start. Words hung in the air, muffled by the sound of the blood rushing to his head, and he did not hear.

The body at his feet was cold and still. So cold, so pale, so _wrong_. His hands shook. He rose them up, running them through his hair, his mouth forming words that his voice wasn't brave enough to speak.

Iruka-sensei was all that he had. The _one good thing_ in the hell called Konoha.

His legs gave out beneath him and he folded over the body, held up by the fading strength in his open palms, nose-to-nose with the body of his teacher. Vacant eyes stared back. Vacant, empty, _soulless eyes._

He swallowed the bile in his throat and lifted a hand to Iruka-sensei's shoulder, jerking it. Once. Twice.

He pressed his ear to the body's chest but all he could hear was his own racing heartbeat.

That man was saying things but he did not listen. Something inside him snapped. He felt it—this _burning_ in his gut like an open flame. Slowly, he picked himself up. Heat pulsed through his body and he swayed to his feet. It hurt. It hurt and hurt and hurt and _hurt_ and Iruka-sensei was there and he wasn't moving and _make it stop—_

" _I'll take the pain away."_

He looked down to his hands at the pulsing red energy bubbling up from his skin, at the nails stretching and twisting into claws. He licked the sharp edge of his teeth. The trembling stopped. The panic soon followed. He closed his eyes and embraced the wash of power consuming him.

There was a faint pain in his back and he jerked, stumbling forward against the weight of something sharp through his skin, catching himself before he fell onto the body of his beloved teacher still there, staring up with vacant eyes. Empty eyes. _Soulless eyes._

" _Call upon me, boy. I'll take it all away."_

He sucked in a breath and the metal in his skin corroded away like ash in the wind.

He looked up. Standing in the tree was the pale face of a man with pale hair and black eyes, brandishing the symbol of the Leaf on a blue bandana. The man's grin pulled away, his eyes widening, and he laughed, long and loud and strained as he braced himself.

"Look at you," the man breathed. "The child of the nine-tailed fox. It's incredible."

He growled low in his throat, his heartbeat drumming loudly all around him, and crouched low as the chakra around him built up into a haze. _You killed him. You killed my sensei._

When he closed his eyes he found the waiting paw of a massive beast pressing through the cold, unforgiving metal bars of his mind, and he reached out.

* * *

Looking through the slits of his ANBU mask, Kakashi could see the drawn, tired eyes of the Hokage's face, masking worry behind a pipe and shielding the darkness of his thoughts beneath the shadows of his hat. The world was quiet, and they were alone. The morning sky bled a pleasant blue into the dull interior of the Hokage office, but right now it seemed so far away.

Kakashi had seen many things while serving as ANBU. This was not something that he knew.

Hiruzen's fingers interlocked atop the desk before him and he let out a burdened breath. "The nine-tails jinchuuriki has fled the village," he said, short and simple with the weight of the implications buried far beneath the surface. "I am assigning you the task of retrieving him. You have three days before this incident becomes a problem. Understand?"

Kakashi lowered his eyes from where he knelt before the Hokage, respectfully bowing his head. "Yes, Lord Third."

Hiruzen set down his pipe and sighed. "Up," he commanded, and Kakashi complied. "I'm sending you alone. It shouldn't be difficult; Naruto was just frightened off. His teacher was killed right before his eyes, the poor child."

Kakashi nodded, the painted mask blocking out his expression as he rose to his full height. "I will return with him shortly. You have my word."

Hiruzen smiled. There was trust in that smile, undeserved trust. With a dismissing hand, Kakashi disappeared in a whirl of leaves and wind.

* * *

Naruto ran. He ran and ran and ran and _ran_ until his feet felt raw and the weight of the world pulled against his muscles. He ran against the sharp edges of branches and twigs as they scraped across his skin. He ran until his body couldn't take it anymore. When he stopped, he slid down the base of a tree, guarded by its winding roots, and buried his head in his hands. Wide, trembling eyes stared hard at the ground. He could still feel the surge of power that encased him, coming from—from _something,_ something strange and terrible and _wonderful_ all at once.

He pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes and tried to breathe through the panic.

On the backs of his eyelids, he could see blood. There was a body at his feet, still and hollow and cold, and another at his side. Pale skin, pale hair. Dark eyes. Four gashes clawing through his chest. Corrosive chakra eating away at the fabric of his uniform.

Warmth dripping from his hands in the ensuing calm.

Naruto jerked his hands away and stared down at them, shaking as he fixated on the smears of blood staining his arms and now his face, no doubt. He flexed his fingers, feeling the sticky pull. No, no, it wasn't on his face. It wasn't sticky. Not anymore. The blood was dry, flaking off of his skin, dark against the air. It was dry because he'd only just stopped running.

A small, strangled noise rose up from his throat and he bit his lip to hold back the tears.

What had he done?

The boy pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapped his arms around them, and covered his face. His sleeves muffled the short, hiccuping sobs that forced their way out. His eyes burned and he hugged himself knowing that it was the only comfort that he would get.

Naruto stared down at his reflection in the river, rippling and waving as the water flowed continuously down. His face carried with it his exhaustion and he was all out of tears. The image shuddered away when his hands broke the surface. He washed the blood away vigorously but it was still on his sleeves, still there, the ever-present reminder. He would need to get new clothes. And food, because he needed food. He was hungry, or… he should have been.

Naruto wasn't sure _what_ he was anymore.

The water chilled his skin and he lifted his hands out of the river, watching droplets roll off his skin in a daze. Time felt like it was passing on without him. He wasn't sure how long he ran for, or how far he'd gone. Where he was. When he thought back to the landmarks he passed in his blind run, there was nothing. He didn't know the first thing about how he would return to the village, where to go or who to ask. He didn't even know if he _wanted_ to return.

Naruto splashed his face with water to try to startle away his lingering stupor. It wasn't enough. The longer he was there, with his reflection in the water, the more he started to think. He stared at his hands.

That power. That raw, _unfiltered_ power. That was not his own. That was—that was the demon fox, the nine-tails sealed within him. And then, he could hear Mizuki's words rippling throughout his thoughts like waves: " _You are the nine-tailed fox."_

With a snarl, he slammed his fist into his reflection and rose out of a crouch, stumbling tiredly on his feet. It wasn't true. It _wasn't._ He knew who he was, and he was _not—_

From within, a raspy chuckle crashed through his thoughts. The voice was deep and echo-y like a far-off dream and it buzzed familiarity in the back of his skull. Slowly, carefully, Naruto sat back down and braced himself against it, looking at nothing.

" _You are not the fox, boy. I am."_

Suddenly the world was dark. Water pooled around his legs but he couldn't feel the chill, as though he weren't really there, as though none of this was real. Claustrophobic walls lined the sides of a vast room and a steady drip bled through the quiet. He heard that laugh again—bone-chilling and haunting—and he twisted around. A set of impossibly large bars jutted out from the ground, disappearing into a ceiling he couldn't see through the darkness. From beyond the bars stared two massive, red eyes across a towering silhouette. Naruto swallowed, cautiously twisting around to fully face the cage.

"Y—" He choked back his words, feeling an embarrassing tremble in his throat, and steadied himself. "You're the fox?" he asked. "The—the one who…"

" _I am."_

"You attacked the village."

" _I did."_

"...You _killed people_."

" _Yes."_

Naruto covered his mouth and forced back the bile in his throat. Mizuki was right. Mizuki hadn't lied. That— _thing_ was inside him, sealed by the Fourth Hokage. He was the fox. Or—he was the container for the fox. And that massive swell of red chakra, that had been…

Him.

No one told him.

Naruto's eyes fluttered and he huddled his arms around his chest to hide his shaking. That was why they looked at him like that, which such contempt. Disgust. They knew the beast contained within his body, knew what he was even when he, himself, was left in the dark. Why? Why did no one tell him, why—did _Iruka-sensei_ know? Did he? No. Iruka-sensei was the _one good thing_ in that village. The one good thing that ever happened to him.

No. He didn't know. Couldn't have.

The massive form before him shifted and he jumped, eyes up, watching the tailed beast with muted horror.

" _I can feel the hatred you carry."_

Naruto flinched, digging his hands into the water, slowly leaning back to rest his weight on his palms. This guy was scary, sure, but… he was trapped in there. Couldn't get out. There was a thing on the door to the cage—a seal, maybe? He couldn't be sure—and it seemed to prevent him from going any further. There was nothing to fear. "I don't hate nothin', ya overgrown furball."

The fox laughed again, amused for the moment, and Naruto swore he could see a smile somewhere behind all those teeth. " _Say what you will, boy. But I feel it. You're just like me."_

"I'm not—" He hissed, glaring up at the fox with bared teeth. "I'm _nothing like you,_ y'know! You—you killed the Fourth Hokage, and—"

" _That fool did himself in,"_ the fox corrected, closing its eyes and resting its head on its paws. Like that, it didn't seem so scary. " _He would have died even without my intervention. The reaper death seal is what took his life. Your stupid father only has himself to blame."_

Naruto's hand slipped and he yelped, falling back into the water. He scrambled to get himself up even though he didn't feel cold or wet, like this was all an illusion, and sputtered as he turned those words over in his head. "My… father? Wh—what're you sayin'?"

A large, red eye blinked open, staring down at Naruto with thinly veiled amusement. " _That horrid wretch never spoke a word of it to you. Your damnable lineage. Son of the Hokage and my last human jailor."_

"The—the Hokage? The _Fourth_ Hokage?" he echoed, running a hand through his hair as he stared at nothing. But that couldn't be right. "I-I'm his… son? And he… he sealed…"

The fox huffed, the tails flicking behind it causing the world to tremble beneath their force. " _Your father sealed half of my chakra within you that day, twelve years ago."_

"B-but why—why would he—into his _son,_ I—" His hands fell to his sides and he gaped up at the massive beast beyond the metal bars, feeling small and helpless and all kinds of _weak._ "...I don't understand."

" _I don't pretend to understand the way you humans think,"_ the fox snorted, settling in comfortably. " _I curse that man beyond the grave for sealing me in here, with you."_

Naruto fell silent. His arms felt loose and limp, hanging at his sides. The weight of the world fell to his shoulders and he buckled beneath it.

" _What is your name, boy?"_

"Naruto," he muttered numbly. "Naruto Uzumaki."

The fox huffed, but there was a smile behind its indifference. " _They chose that one, did they?"_

"Huh?" He blinked, pulled momentarily from his warring thoughts.

" _Kurama,"_ came the derisive answer. " _Remember it well."_

* * *

"Kurama," Naruto called in a whine, clutching at his stomach, "I'm _hungry."_

He could practically feel the eye-roll aimed at him from within the seal and felt the small satisfaction that came with it. Kurama was regretting giving him his name because Naruto hadn't stopped calling it over the past two and a half days. Once the initial crushing shock wore itself thin, it became his new favourite word.

It had to. That name was all he had. Naruto hadn't seen another soul in days and the forest was starting to feel vast and endless in a way that frazzled his nerves. He wondered if he would ever see the village again. He wondered if he wanted to.

The truth hurt. It hurt a _lot._ Naruto tried to compartmentalize it for later when he returned home, but he was starting to think that he didn't want to go back, not to the people who wore lies in their smiles and contempt in their hearts. No one told him what he was, or who he was—and how was that fair? Why did it take the giant fox monster living in his body for him to find out the truth?

They hated him. He knew that—could feel it in their eyes, in the looks that he caught them sharing. They hated him and it _wasn't his fault._ And now he knew why. He never had a chance at getting the villagers to accept him.

Hokage, huh? Yeah. Sure. Like they'd ever give the title to the fox demon container.

"Kurama!" he shouted, crossing his arms over his chest. "C'mon! Don't ignore me!"

" _What do you want me to do about that, brat? Eat if you're hungry,"_ Kurama hissed.

"Eat what?"

" _Food."_

Naruto narrowed his eyes, casting his glance around the forest. "Dunno 'bout you, but I ain't seein' no food."

The exasperated sigh made it all worthwhile.

But it did not change the fact that he was still very, _very_ hungry. He scrounged up some fruits—berries and the like—out of the trees yesterday, but hadn't seen anything since. He didn't know if he was headed the right way or not. Hell, he wasn't sure if the right way was towards the village, or away from it. His mind started to wander to all of the things he could be eating in the village. Like ramen, ramen, maybe more ramen…

Ah. Teuchi probably thought of him like that, too, huh? Like a monster.

It soured his appetite.

Naruto smothered those thoughts and threw his hands behind his head, dragging his feet as he walked. "Man," he sighed, "I could really go for some pork ramen, y'know?"

" _Naruto."_

"At this point, even just plain white rice would be n—"

" _Naruto. Don't speak."_

He frowned, opening his mouth to do just that when he felt a warning flare up within him, a chill running up his spine.

" _We are being followed."_

Naruto tensed and stopped midstep, his eyes wide. Suddenly he could feel it, and he didn't know _how_ —a chakra signature flickering to life in the copse of trees to his left. He could feel his heart pounding within his chest all the way up to his ears. Who? Who would be following him? Bandits? Mizuki—no, Mizuki was dead, he could still see the blood on his hands.

" _Don't look."_

He couldn't help it. His eyes lifted to the trees and he could see a black pant leg hidden by the leaves. The moment he looked it was gone and he blinked, rubbing his eyes, wondering if he was just seeing things.

Then that man was there before him, inches from his face, and he stumbled back with a yelp. He managed to brace himself against the edge of the riverbank—he'd been following the river because he didn't feel like he had much choice as losing a source of water would leave him as good as dead—and his arms pinwheeled to keep him from diving in. Finally, he was steady, releasing a breath. The man was ANBU; the uniform was unmistakable, the tattoo on the man's shoulder even more so. He was a Leaf shinobi.

"U-um," he stuttered out stupidly. "Y'here to, like, k-kill me or something?"

The ANBU shifted, one hand on his hip and the other outstretched. "I'm taking you back to Konoha," he said behind the mask. "The Hokage sent me."

Naruto blinked. "The old man did?"

That hand was waiting there, expectant, and he hesitated. He wasn't all that sure he _wanted_ to go back. The thoughts whirling around in his head were jumbled and confusing and he hadn't made sense of anything yet. He needed more time.

" _Play along."_

"I—"

" _Don't speak. He'll know. Listen to me and I'll get you out of this, Naruto. Do you want to go back?"_

No. He didn't. Not yet.

" _Then play along."_

Naruto swallowed back his words and took the hand that was offered to him.

* * *

The ANBU was quiet. Too quiet. It was quiet before the ANBU started guiding him back to Konoha, sure, but at least when he was alone there wasn't a stifling tension in the air. And at least while alone he could actually _talk_ to Kurama.

Kurama was better company than this guy. At least Kurama answered him… sometimes.

"Er—" He flinched when the masked faced found its way to him, casting his eyes to the dirt. He didn't like when that guy faced him, shifting and hunching and kicking the ground. The mask gave away no tells. He couldn't guess what was going on behind it; if the man was mad or bored or happy. "What—what should I call ya?"

"Hound," the ANBU said, his voice echoing behind his mask.

Naruto nodded, his shoulders slumped, and he felt some relief when he got an answer. Every other question was left hanging. He started to think that everything he asked would be.

With a grin, he stepped out into the road before Hound, blocked the path, and pointed to himself. "Naruto Uzumaki. I'm gonna—"

His eyes widened. The words stuck in his throat.

Hokage. He couldn't. It wouldn't matter if he did; no one would accept him, the fox child, the container for the nine-tailed fox.

Hound was there, waiting. Silent. Expecting an answer.

Naruto plastered on a fake smile. "I'm gonna be the world's greatest ninja!"

Hound cocked his head to the side, said nothing, and marched on. With a pout, Naruto dragged his feet behind the ANBU.

Hunger was still a thing. Hound gave him some food pills, but it was hardly enough to make up for all of the meals that he missed. The hunger was a constant distraction, even as Kurama fed him instructions on what to do or say to get out of this mess. For now, they waited. They needed to get a ways away from the river so that they could put some distance between themselves and Hound before taking a nice afternoon dip. Kurama's plan involved a lot of shadow clones and a _lot_ of water.

Kurama said that he recognized this man from his time within Mom. Mom was the last container before Naruto. So this man… knew Mom. And Dad, probably.

He probably knew what Naruto was, too.

They waited until Hound seemed distracted—confident that there wouldn't be any other hassles on his mission—to make their move. With his back turned, Naruto's hands came together in a seal and he grinned.

A shadow clone popped into existence beside him. Hound took notice, looked back—

By the time he did, Naruto was running. _Both_ Narutos were running.

Hound was hot on their tracks, sure, but the moment they were out of sight, both Narutos produced more clones. Two, then four, then eight, then sixteen. Again and again and again and _again_ until they were swamped within a sea of ripped orange jumpsuits and blond hair, until it was safe enough for the original to slip out and make a break for the river. Then the running started. It was a long ways back; they'd been travelling for a good two hours now and he wasn't looking forward to how exhausted he would be at the end of this all.

One by one, Hound slashed through his clones. They all scattered off in different directions to lead him off the original's trail. None fought back; Kurama told him not to, that he'd be no match for an ANBU in his current state, and he listened.

He trusted Kurama. No one else had ever been honest with him.

The moment the water was in sight, Naruto plugged his nose and cannonballed in. He hit the water with a smack and squeezed his eyes shut, holding his breath and allowing his body to follow the stream. He floated to the surface, arms and legs splayed, and stared numbly up at the blue sky.

Well. Now he was officially a fugitive.

" _Regretting it?"_

Naruto shook his head, a slow grin curling his lips. "Nah," he sighed. "I think—I think I hated that place. I think you're right."

Kurama's laughter was like music to his ears. Maybe he shouldn't be trusting the demon his father sealed away. Maybe this whole thing was a mistake.

Maybe he didn't care. Maybe he was tired of people dictating his life.

Maybe he would follow his own path.

* * *

 **Adieu~**


	2. Chapter 2

**I've come to the horrifying realization that it's been 10 years since my first year of high school. So, to distract myself from the crushing reality of time, I'm updating all of my fics :') Enjoy!**

* * *

"Kurama," he pleaded like a mantra, an overused name, and he could already hear the fox's contempt, "I'm _hungry."_

Kurama's exasperation was the best. It was the closest thing to a prank that he could do, with the beast sealed within his own body. _"Then do something about it, brat."_

"Yeah, yeah."

He _was_ doing something about it. Placed beside him were the carcasses of two rabbits, skinned and ready to be cooked, and he thanked his demon fox for granting him such good reflexes in times like that. Rabbits were fast. And squirmed a lot. And he was running out of supplies to make traps.

Now he just needed a fire. 'Eat them raw,' Kurama said, but last time that was _disgusting_ and he had standards. Was a fire a risk? Did it have the potential to lead his pursuers straight to his location? Oh yeah. No doubt. But Naruto was going to _cook his meat_ and no hunter-nin was gonna stop him.

Besides, fires were only a liability if they were _lit._ Naruto did not have the patience for fires and took no tools with him when he left. It was a _bit_ spur-of-the-moment. He's been at this for twenty minutes now, and he was getting _bored._

Then there was a spark and a cheer and he was stoking the fire with a level of care comparable to a parent with a small, accident-prone child until it rose to full maturity.

The sun went down, smoke went up, and Naruto was on his way to having a decent meal for the first time in days.

It'd been over a month. And boy, after Hound failed to catch him, the Hokage sure got persistent. The amount of Konoha-nin sent to retrieve him was _actually_ ridiculous; the whole damn forest was crawling with them and he was starting to think that he would have to leave Fire Country if he wanted to get away. Which, well, he was _fine_ with… He didn't really belong to a country anymore. A village. The only one on his side was the one inside him, the one that couldn't escape him.

"Hey, Kurama," said Naruto, prodding the meat over the open flame. A little longer. "Could you tell me about my mom?"

 _"My last jinchuuriki."_

"Yeah. Her."

That word—jinchuuriki. That was the label for the tailed beast containers. Kurama told him a lot about what that meant, about how coveted they were by the hidden villages, sought after as living weapons. That was why Konoha was looking for him. The old man wasn't worried about him. It wasn't because of blind sentimentality. It was because their _tool_ had _defected._

And that was okay.

 _"Kushina Uzumaki. How I resented that woman and her chains."_

Naruto grinned, his eyes squeezed shut as he leaned back and listened. Of course, he _knew_ Kurama was a biased source, and that he'd only ever get a one-sided story by asking. That was okay. It was okay because he already _knew_ all of that, and Kurama was the only one who would tell him anything at all.

He wasn't sure on his feelings of his father, of Minato Namikaze, but he felt fond things for his mother, for the woman who was trapped with the same jinchuuriki title that he was.

The fox was quiet. Naruto thought about retreating into his mindscape where the seal rested to have a one-on-one conversation, but Kurama chastised him last time; he'd almost gotten caught by the scouts.

Naruto pouted. "C'mon, Kurama! Tell me! Please?"

The fox snorted. _"She was an Uzumaki. One who hails from Uzushio."_

"Uzushio?"

 _"A long fallen ally of the Leaf."_

"Oh. Huh."

Naruto never gave his name much thought. It was just a name, after all—he never thought it'd be a _clan_ name, of all things. There were a few clan children back in the academy. All of them had super cool clan-exclusive abilities and techniques. Far as he knew, Naruto had nothing like that.

Well. He had the fox. The thing that nearly destroyed the village. But Kurama wasn't that bad a guy, just grumpy. Temperamental, too, and he gleaned amusement from the hatred of others. But for all that he had bad traits, Kurama was blunt and honest in a way that no one had ever been with Naruto before.

 _"The Uzumaki are adept at fuinjutsu. The seal that binds you and I is taken very much from their knowledge."_

Naruto grinned and pulled the meat off the fire. "So Mom was real good at that seal stuff?"

 _"Your father even more so. He was considered a master."_

That sullied Naruto's mood and he bitterly tore into the meat. "Figured that."

Of course the guy who sealed _the tailed beast_ into his own damn son would be a master of sealing. Naruto never thought otherwise. Plus, he was the Fourth Hokage; it would be weird if he didn't have a lot of unique skills to warrant the title.

Naruto shoved bitter thoughts of the Hokage to the back of his mind and grinned. "Forget him—what was Mom like? Was she strong? Bet she was, if she kept _you_ in check."

Kurama growled, the sound echoing in his mind, and it brought him great satisfaction. He loved irritating the furball. _"She was spirited. You look like that damned Hokage, but you take after her far more."_

Good. _She_ wasn't the one who made a monumental decision about his life right from birth. Dear old Dad was entirely to blame for that.

He wondered what she looked like. He wondered if there were any pictures of her hidden away in Konoha somewhere.

Tossing the bones of the first rabbit aside, he snatched up the second and—

 _"They're approaching."_

Naruto stopped, the meat halfway to his mouth, jaw open and waiting, and scrunched up his face in a pout. "Aw, come on! _Really?"_ He brought his hands together into a seal. A few shadow clones could get them off his tail.

 _"That won't work this time, kit."_

"Huh? Why not?"

 _"I suspect the Hokage will have sent the Uchiha after you by now."_

Naruto put a face to the name, a classmate with dark hair and dark eyes, hanging off the arm of a doting older brother. "Er… so? I could take 'em." Probably. Hopefully. No, he could, because he was going to be the strongest ninja _ever._ If he couldn't take out a few guys like _that_ every once in a while, he didn't deserve to have such high aspirations.

 _"Fool,"_ growled Kurama, _"we can't alert them by diverting with your clones. There's too much at risk. The Uchiha have the sharingan."_

"The wha?"

 _"We need to disappear."_

Disappear, huh? Naruto shoved his dinner into his mouth and held it between his teeth, changing his hand sign before his body flickered out of sight.

* * *

Kakashi raised an arm and his ninken scattered into the trees, taking with them the scent of their target jinchuuriki.

A part of him wondered just how long this mission would go on for. Surely a child still in the academy couldn't run from a specialized ANBU retrieval team forever.

That was what he thought one month ago, too, when the jinchuuriki boy used shadow clones to escape into the river. The river washed Naruto's scent, and even following it Kakashi was unable to hunt the boy down. Then the end of the third day came to pass and he had no choice but to begrudgingly report to the Hokage about his failure.

The kid failed his graduation exam. How could _that boy_ have ever learned the shadow clone jutsu in the few hours that the scroll was missing? But these were all just excuses because Kakashi knew very well that none of this would have ever happened if he hadn't underestimated his target.

That was Kushina's boy. Minato's son. He would be full of surprises.

The pair scouting ahead turned back to him, waiting, silently goading for instruction, and he closed his fist. They stopped, staring at him from behind their ANBU masks.

"We'll wait on their signal," he supplied, pushing on past the pair and peering over the cliff edge to the ten-foot drop that brought them to the next section of forest. They were thorough as they combed every area, and they knew by way of his ninken and reports from other teams that set out to find the Uzumaki boy that they were on the right track. He'd been seen in this area five days prior to their arrival; now that they were there, they just need to figure out what direction he would go in. Logic dictated that he'd take to the river as he had in the past, but that seemed almost too easy. Any self-aware runaway would know that keeping to the same plan would get riskier by the day; it was only a matter of time before the pursuers caught on. So what would his next course of action be, then?

Kakashi knew that, if anyone, this team would be ideal in capturing the jinchuuriki. It made him a bit sentimental, leading this team again after so many years. Itachi of the Sharingan. Tenzo, the wood release user. And himself, a carrier of the sharingan in his own right, but also a proven ANBU captain. He wasn't so much concerned about catching the boy; it was the _finding_ part that was proving a hassle. The boy knew when to divert with clones or traps and when to just up and disappear. The clones, the traps—those were all well and good against the other teams sent out to locate the boy.

So why had they not seen hide nor hair of their target since setting out?

"This kid's really something, huh, Captain?" Tenzo mused. There was a smile in his voice, unwarranted as it was. "Retrievals like this aren't usually such a hassle."

Kakashi closed his eye and sighed, leaning back from the cliff to face his squad. "Yeah," he grunted. "Strange. His academy teachers called him 'hopeless.' We're taking five. Rest up and eat until we have a track to follow."

They all settled on the cliffside, rummaging through their supplies for ration bars. The masks came off. In this mission, there were no enemy ninja. They weren't there to harm the jinchuuriki, but to bring him back to the village. Lord Third was very adament that they only use force if they saw no other alternatives; Naruto was a scared child, he reminded them, and needed to be treated as such. So, with no assassinations expected and minimal fighting involved, this mission should have felt like a break. An easy two or three days of travel, location, secure and return.

It wasn't. It wasn't because this was Konoha's only jinchuuriki they were looking for. It wasn't, because the jinchuuriki allegedly did not even know the power that he carried within himself. It wasn't, because that boy's retrieval was vital to the village's safety. No one could know about this.

Well. Kakashi was very used to missions with dire consequences. This one just stung more than most, reminded of his failure.

They waited out the return of the dogs in relative silence. Kakashi was a very introspective man; his thoughts were continually moving, evaluating, but outwardly he understood himself to be a rather quiet man. Much like himself, Itachi was a shinobi of light smiles and few words. That left Tenzo to do most of the talking, which wasn't a lot.

Tenzo swallowed back the last of his ration bar and looked between them with friendly eyes and a kind smile. The urgency of their mission was there still, pushed down and buried until it was needed, but above all Tenzo was the well-mannered sort. He took his missions seriously, but sometimes the stoic mask had to crack. This, in the middle of a cross-country treck through Fire Country forests, was one such time. Maybe Tenzo saw how frustrated Kakashi was beneath his own practiced indifference.

"To think it would take a rogue jinchuuriki to get us on a team together again," said Tenzo, shaking his head and turning to Itachi. "Team Ro hasn't been the same without you."

Itachi smiled. It was a passing gesture but one that felt genuine, as though Itachi appreciated the sentiment.

Kakashi wished their reunion was under better circumstances.

They packed up, and now they just had to wait. The fact that not even Pakkun returned worried Kakashi that they weren't able to find the target's scent. That rarely ever happened; it wasn't like he blindly sent his summons chasing a scent without first knowing that the target _should_ have been in that area sometime recently. But maybe the downtime was good; it gave them a chance to reevaluate their situation.

Once everything was where it needed to be, Kakashi looked between his teammates. "Uzumaki has shown himself to every other team but ours," he stated, his mind on the latest reports Pakkun delivered from the Hokage. "Team Ro was formulated specifically for the capture of a jinchuuriki. That being the case, I'm not entirely convinced that Naruto Uzumaki is avoiding us by his own power."

The smiles were gone and the mission came first.

"You've met the boy," Itachi observed. That was the first time he'd opened his mouth all day.

Kakashi nodded. "Ah. I have." He recalled the genuine fear in the boy's eyes, wondering if Kakashi was sent on a much darker mission. The boy thought the Hokage wanted him dead right from the start. That nagged at him. But still, Naruto came along. Tried to start conversations. _Engaged_ the ANBU. And Kakashi, in kind, observed him. "He's getting help from somewhere. I'm sure of it."

"Could someone be manipulating him?" Tenzo questioned.

"Well," Kakashi sighed, making a vague gesture that was neither here nor there. It was possible. Currying favour with a jinchuuriki would be in anyone's best interest, Leaf shinobi or otherwise. That was a lot of untapped power to have on one's side. "Regardless, I don't believe the kid knows to avoid us. He's being told to."

"And this 'help' knows who we are," Itachi continued, laying an arm over his knee as he shifted.

"You and I," Kakashi corrected. A lazy eye fell to Tenzo. "No one should have information on your ability, though. Not outside of Root or ANBU. Your wood release is a more well-guarded secret than our sharingan."

Tenzo frowned and nodded. "Understood."

Kakashi smiled. "You're our trump card, Tenzo. When the time comes, you'll be the one to complete this mission."

* * *

The cool thing about Kurama was that he knew a lot. That shunshin thing he learned was _super_ cool. It was the very first thing that Kurama guided him on, and it wasn't so much _hard_ as it was confusing. But Kurama, for all that he was a giant ball of unbridled hatred, had the patience of the Sage.

Naruto threw his arms behind his head and dragged his feet as he walked, looking here and there at the, at that point, _very bland_ scenery. A forest is a forest is a forest. And he was so _sick_ of forests. He missed ramen. For one last taste of Ichiraku, Naruto would risk capture in a heartbeat.

The heavy rain from the previous day left deep puddles in the uneven earth, the squelch of mud unpleasant beneath his sandels. He stilled, staring down at his reflection in the dirty brown water pooled by tree roots. His face was caked in mud and grime from a night of nonstop travel. Dark circles hung beneath his eyes, tired and lifeless and all kinds of miserable. And his clothes, for all that he cleaned them whenever he could, were ruined. That orange jumpsuit, once a beloved, flashy show of his character, was now dyed a muted brown, torn and weathered and stained with the red of old injuries.

He laughed. He laughed because his sorry state was so pitiful that he _had_ to laugh.

They couldn't continue like this, not if this was going to be his life. He couldn't spend the rest of his days sleeping in the trees and hunting wild game with clothes that barely held up against his movements. He needed supplies and a place to sleep, real food and—

Money. He needed money. He needed money and he was never even made a genin.

 _"We're far enough away now. You can relax."_

Naruto stuck up his nose with boastful confidence that he didn't quite feel, wearing it as a guise against his spiralling thoughts. "Like I was worried. I could have taken 'em, Kurama."

 _"Fool. The sharingan is very effective against my power. And yours."_

His brow scrunched as he thought. "Mmm… that's the eye-thing you were talkin' about, right? That the one guy had—the guy who broke Mom's seal?"

 _"Yes. The man who released me onto the village was an Uchiha."_

So even the nine-tailed fox had weaknesses, huh? "Why do you think they were those Uchiha guys, anyhow? All the others were pretty, er…"

 _"Unremarkable."_

"Lame," he corrected smartly.

Kurama snorted. _"Their chakra signatures were more profound than those pedestrian trackers. That damned Hokage is no fool. By now, he would have utilized every advantage he has on us. He'll be getting desperate."_

Naruto frowned but said nothing. Right. The old man was after him. Some days, it felt like this was just a really long, hazardous camping trip—that one day it would all be over and Naruto would return to his village, go to the academy, and harass Iruka-sensei until graduation.

But Iruka-sensei was dead and the village was full of liars. And he was a monster. _Their_ monster, who they very much wanted back.

Kurama told him a little about what that sharingan-thing was. He didn't entirely get it, but he was coming to find that he didn't much like the sharingan, either. The man who attacked the village used it to control Kurama. And these Uchihas would use it to bring him home.

Naruto scrubbed his eyes and yawned. He started moving again, swaying through the trees. One day he'd find a town. Maybe he could beg some innkeeper for a room in exchange for work. Naruto wasn't exactly experienced, but what he lacked in experience he made up for in tenacity.

He scented blood on the air and sharp eyes snapped left. He sniffed, trying to discern it, and could feel Kurama's amusement.

 _"Old blood,"_ the fox supplied. _"Nothing to worry over."_

"I wasn't worried," he said matter-of-factly, following the scent into dense brush. With any luck, he'd find a ninja corpse. And, with _dumb luck,_ there would be abandoned supplies that he could snag.

Past a few overgrown shrubs, Naruto found the prone body of a very dead shinobi. Wounds from a kunai decorated his chest and there was no getting up from that. It wasn't the first body he found while traversing through Fire Country, and he doubted that it'd be the last. It was a good sign, though.

Naruto felt some guilt over what he was about to do, but in matters of survival everything was fair game and he doubted this poor guy would be needing his stuff any longer.

With a smidge of reluctance, Naruto crouched down by the corpse and started searching through the pouches of the man's uniform. With a triumphant hum, he found a handful of ryo, a few unused shuriken, and a sealing scroll. With any luck, it'd have more supplies sealed inside that he could use. Even if it was empty, a sealing scroll could maybe prove useful if he ever, well, had anything to carry.

Before he could rise, he took a good, long look at the man. Poor guy never stood a chance.

Naruto clapped his hands together and closed his eyes. "Sorry. And thanks. You're _really_ helping me out, y'know!"

His eyes found the man's headband and he swallowed, staring at the nostalgic symbol of Konoha brandished across the metal plate. And there was regret there, hard and long and pooling like a bottomless pit in his gut, even before he did anything.

He slipped his fingers beneath the metal plate and carefully pulled the headband off, holding it in front of his eyes to observe the symbol and all of the mixed feelings that it gave him.

"I never got one of my own, y'know," he told Kurama, smoothing the pad of his thumb over the engraving. "Iruka-sensei failed me. I never got to be a genin."

 _"That pointless human ranking system is beneath you."_

Naruto laughed, but it was tired and short. There was blood on the headband, staining the fabric, long-dried. It probably wouldn't come out.

"Genin or not," he smiled, "I'm gonna be the greatest ninja. Just you wait. I'm gonna get stronger and go back and kick _all_ their asses!"

And Kurama laughed. And it felt nice.

He held onto the headband as he stood and left, his eyes on that symbol like a trance.

* * *

Two months. Two months of following half-faded trails of long distance shunshins, two months of chasing a target that started to feel more phantom than human, two months of little progress and lacking supplies and low morale.

And there he was, in all his jinchuuriki glory. And for a moment, Kakashi wasn't sure what to do. It had been such a long-fought battle against odds and now it was over, and they could go home. There was just one thing left to do.

A kunai split the wood of the tree by Naruto's face, Itachi's first ploy—to startle the kid, to get him to look up, make eye contact—but Naruto didn't so much as flinch.

A hand sign later and there were shadow clones, and it was a relief because they _knew_ shadow clones, they prepared for this. Systematically they cut the clones down one by one by one, Itachi's sharingan eyes trained on the crowds, trying to notice a fluctuation in chakra, a tell that would lead them to the original.

Itachi made a hand sign and set his eyes on one of the bodies of brown-robed jinchuuriki.

"Right."

Tenzo knelt. Shoots of wood sprang up from the earth and spiralled around the body—but then it flickered away and the wood trapped _nothing_ and Kakashi was already following the body with his headband pushed up and both eyes locked.

They followed through grass and trees against the high-noon sun and then he was there, his clones gone, standing in the dark-cast shadows of the leaves, looking their way with red eyes that never reached their faces.

Red eyes.

Kakashi recalled the smiling student from that day two long, unending months ago. Naruto Uzumaki had blue eyes. Naruto Uzumaki did not bear his teeth like a cornered animal.

Something was wrong.

He looked left. "Tenzo—"

"A _wood user,"_ Naruto hissed, and it ended in a laugh as he backed himself into a tree, his eyes darting between the three encroaching on him but never making eye contact. "Of all the _cursed_ things that Hokage could—"

This… wasn't Naruto Uzumaki, was it?

Tenzo was already acting. Pillars sprang up from the tree behind the jinchuuriki and swept around to coil the boy within them. But Naruto ducked out before they could latch on, his cloak flourishing around him in the wind, and he shot forward.

Itachi remained still, calm and collected as the nine-tailed child charged at him. Genjutsu. It was over. The moment that the boy was caught in it, it was over. No child could—

Itachi's eyes widened slightly as Naruto launched into the air, arm pulled back, kunai tight-gripped. He skirted out of the way as the blond flash hit the dirt with a whirl of wind, narrowly missing the edge of the kunai. Naruto grinned. Itachi narrowed his eyes.

He dispelled it. That little runt, who hadn't even graduated from the academy.

Alright. Fine. They'd play.

Kakashi shot forth, flashing an ANBU hand sign to Tenzo behind his back: _seal._ Tenzo steadied himself and his hand went up, following the bouncing body of the fox as it put distance between them.

Because that _was_ the fox. That was not Naruto. The seal weakened, or Naruto lost control, or—regardless, that _was not Naruto._

In a flicker of movement, Kakashi cut the boy off and sent a knee into Naruto's stomach. There was a choking noise, a loss of air, and then—

A puff of smoke.

 _Shit._

"Itachi," he called sharply because Itachi's skills outweighed his own in this regard, and he would readily admit it.

With a cursory glance the Uchiha's arm went up, lips parted.

But Naruto was already falling through the trees, his body a mask of corrosive red chakra, two tails thrashing behind him. Teeth bared in a snarl. Kakashi caught his arm before the weapon could make contact. The chakra _burned._ He winced but kept his grip, holding fast as Naruto writhed and wriggled and _bit._

And the boy was strong. Far stronger than any twelve-year-old should be. But even as his skin reddened and blistered and _peeled_ he held on and shoved the boy back, body flush with a tree. His other arm came up, the cold edge of a kunai promising bad things against Naruto's throat.

Then the fox stilled. The clawing stopped, arms fell limp at its sides, but it still would not meet the sharingan eye.

" _Now,_ Tenzo," he called over his shoulder.

Wooden pillars shot out from around them and twisted around Naruto's limbs. Hisses and snarls promised empty threats and he struggled in vain against his wooden prison. Kakashi let go, stepped back. Soon Itachi was observing at his side with mild interest.

Tenzo dashed out from behind them and charged at the fox, placing his hand flush against Naruto's chest. The ground cracked and crumbled at their feet, stocks of wood breaking through the earth to encircle them. The glow of chakra came next as Tenzo put distance between himself and the target.

Kakashi watched with narrowed eyes as the corrosive red aura burning Naruto's body receded, the tails breaking up into the air like nothing, and it all felt too easy. Too simple. Too _instant._ But Kakashi knew nothing of wood release, how it worked or why it subdued the tailed beast. He just knew that it did, and trusted his comrade's skills enough to remind himself that _this was okay._

It didn't settle well.

Their target went limp. His eyelids fluttered tiredly, heavily. The red of his irises leeched away into calm blue and he glanced at each of their faces—first Tenzo, then Itachi, before settling on the captain's.

Naruto blinked. "Hound?"

His head shot up. Squirming turned to flailing as he tried to break free with newfound panic rising up, and he was scared. So, _so_ scared, and suddenly this was a child and not the fox, and the unease tensing the air evaporated like water.

"H-hey," Naruto called, looking between them, "w-what's goin' on? Who're you?"

The ANBU exchanged signals and Tenzo nodded, pulling his wood loose and allowing the boy to fall to the ground.

Naruto scrambled back until he pressed against the roots of a tree, clawing at the dirt. "U-um…"

It was Itachi who approached, taking a knee before the small bundle of worried blond. He removed his mask, casting it to the ground with a kind of care that Kakashi wasn't used to seeing on duty. Looks like those were usually reserved for Sasuke, Itachi's younger brother. "The Hokage sent us," he said. "We're here to return you to Konoha."

"Wh—" Naruto swallowed. This time he met their eyes, easily and instantly and he was so clearly _not_ the fox and it brought each of them relief. "You're, um… ANBU?"

Itachi diverted with an easy smile. "Those were some skillful maneuvers, Naruto. I'm impressed."

Naruto stared, long and hard, and his face scrunched up as he searched empty thoughts. "What're you talkin' about?"

Itachi just continued to smile, collecting his mask and rising to his feet. He offered Naruto a hand, one that was hesitantly accepted, and pulled the boy up with him.

Naruto didn't remember. That… made sense, Kakashi supposed, but everything just felt so abrupt that he had trouble believing it. Either way, it was a sign that the seal wasn't holding up as well as they liked. He wondered how long Naruto was like that for, under the influence of the beast sealed within. He wondered if the fox was to blame for the unending journey this mission devolved into. He wondered a great many things, but for now, it could wait.

Mission complete.

They could go home.

* * *

 **Adieu~**


End file.
